Evaluation Of The Mutagenic Activity Of Waters Collected From The Cauca River In The City Of Cali, Colombia By Using The Salmonella/Microsome Assay
Main Article Content
The mutagenic activity of the Cauca River waters in the urban area of the city of Cali, Colombia, was evaluated by applying the Ames test using the TA98 and TA100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium with and without the S9 enzymatic activator. Organic compounds and heavy metals were extracted from water samples using the resins XAD4 and XAD16 respectively. The extracts were diluted with DMSO and stored at -20 °C until the assays. The results showed mutagenic activity at four of the five sites evaluated with both strains, and increased mutagenicity with the S9 enzymatic activator. The highest mutagenicity index (MI=8.0) was obtained in the dry season with strain TA98 at the Juanchito Bridge. In the rainy season, a high mutagenic index (MI=7.1) was also obtained with the strain TA98 and the S9 enzymatic activator at the mouth of the southern collector channel. These results indicate a possible susceptibility of mammals to the mutagenic action of the compounds present in the waters of the Cauca River. The chemical analyses of the extracts were performed by GC/MS and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results indicated the presence of a large number of organic compounds below the mouth of the southern collector channel. The pesticides diazinon, lindane, malathion, chlordane, chlorpyrifos and a endosulfan were found in the range of 0.271-0.003 ppb. The heavy metals Pb, Hg and Cr were found with concentrations up to 48, 38 and 30 ppb respectively. This study is the first of its kind in the waters of the Cauca River.
Downloads
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.